Dave Wilson, who directed ‘SNL’ on and off for 17 years, began working in the earliest days of television – including ‘The Bell Telephone Hour’ and ‘Kraft Music Hall.’

DAVE Wilson, the original director of “Saturday Night Live” who gave the show its trademark look and pace, has died. He was 69.

Wilson died June 30 in Parsippany, N.J., where he lived, but word of his passing was not released until this past weekend.

At the conclusion of last Saturday’s edition of “SNL,” the producers aired a short tribute to Wilson.

Wilson directed “SNL” on and off for 17 years beginning in 1975, when the show first went on the air.

His career stretched back to the earliest days of television – including “The Bell Telephone Hour” and “Kraft Music Hall.”

But when “SNL” creator Lorne Michaels selected Wilson to direct the show – and longtime NBC announcer Don Pardo to narrate it – both men emerged from the shadows of network anonymity and found second careers as the show’s popularity took off.

Wilson won an Emmy for “SNL” in 1976, something that had escaped him during the first decades of his career.